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January 27, 2010

Howard Zinn (1922-2010)

[Civil disobedience] is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of their government ... Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world, in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem.

Man, one of my favorite authors. I saw him speak a few times, and ran into him once at the Dunkin Donuts off Harvard Square, right across from where the 66 bus drops you off. This is a tremendous loss; I'm not sure if we'll ever see anyone like Howard Zinn again.

As a tribute to the author of The People's History of the US, a great poem by Brecht:

Questions from A Worker Who Reads

Who built Thebes of the seven gates?In the books you will find the name of kings. Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock? And Babylon, many times demolished.Who raised it up so many times? In what housesOf gold-glittering Lima did the builders live?Where, the evening that the Wall of China was finishedDid the masons go? Great RomeIs full of triumphal arches. Who erected them? Over whomDid the Caesars triumph? Had Byzantium, much praised in song,Only palaces for its inhabitants? Even in fabled AtlantisThe night the ocean engulfed itThe drowning still bawled for their slaves.

The young Alexander conquered India.Was he alone?Caesar beat the Gauls.Did he not have even a cook with him?Philip of Spain wept when his armadaWent down. Was he the only one to weep?Frederick the Second won the Seven Years' War. WhoElse won it?

Every page a victory.Who cooked the feast for the victors?Every ten years a great man.Who paid the bill?